Compress Photos for Client Delivery, on Your Own Mac

Gallery caps sit at 100 MB on Pixieset, Pic-Time and Zenfolio, while a portfolio site is tighter: Squarespace stops an upload at 20 MB and Pixieset Website at 50 MB. Beyond the cap, what matters is what the host does to the file afterward, and that is where the platforms differ.

Two consequences for how you compress. First, Pixieset stores what you upload, so compressing before upload mainly changes the Original download, the upload time and any metered storage, and the display sizes are then made from the smaller file. Second, Squarespace lists WebP but not AVIF, so AVIF fits a site where you control the formats.

One color note. Pixieset and Squarespace both ask for sRGB uploads. Smol’s handling of embedded ICC profiles is not something we have documented, so after the first run check an output file with exiftool -ProfileDescription before you upload a folder.

Delivery method is its own limit. A message with an attachment over Gmail’s 25 MB becomes a Drive link, so for a full gallery send the host’s link instead of files, and keep attachments for a handful of proofs. The Gmail 25 MB guide covers an album-proof PDF.

Limits change. Vendors change these pages, so when a number matters, open the link. Our guide to image compression for photographers covers more platforms and print labs.

Smol’s image defaults are quality 75, a 2,000 × 2,000 px fit and stripped metadata. That is a reasonable start for a web asset and a poor one for a client gallery. Run a folder of 6,000 px JPEGs through that and you get small, resized files with no Creator, Copyright Notice or Credit Line left in them.

The fix is two settings before the first batch.

• Resize. Raise the maximum width or height to the size you actually want (3600 for a lighter download copy, 2500 for a portfolio) or to the 32,768 px maximum so nothing shrinks. The modes are fit, fill, width and height.
• Metadata. Switch stripping off for files that carry your name. Smol has one switch, not a “copyright only” mode, so if you need your IPTC rights fields kept and GPS removed, do that in your editor’s export if it offers the option (see below) and leave Smol’s stripping off.

Check, do not assume. After the first run, read one output file with exiftool (the EXIF removal guide shows how to install it):

exiftool -G1 -a -s -Creator -Copyright -CopyrightNotice -Credit -By-line -GPSPosition export/*_compressed.jpg

If a field you need is missing, the batch is not ready to send. We have not published a test of which IPTC fields survive a re-encode, which is why this page tells you to look instead of promising. What the strip switch removes is described in does compressing remove metadata.

Start here and adjust against your own frames. Quality is Smol’s 0 to 100 scale. It encodes JPEG with 4:2:0 chroma up to quality 75, 4:2:2 at 80 to 85 and full 4:4:4 from 90, so the jump from 85 to 90 changes how color detail is stored as well as the byte count.

Four notes on that table. First, files clients keep stay at native size; the 3600 px row is a lighter copy for a client who asks for one, and Pixieset’s own figure for it is that 3600 px on the long edge is enough for poster-size prints. A client who takes that copy to a lab gets fewer pixels than your master, so say which file is which. Second, our benchmark compared AVIF and JPEG at matched SSIMULACRA2 scores (70, 75 and 80) on 24 small film scans, and Smol’s AVIF needed 22 to 26% fewer bytes than the best JPEG. It needed 15 to 21% fewer bytes than Apple’s built-in AVIF encoder. Quality 65 is a starting point we have not measured on camera files. Third, phone HEIC files should go through compress with JPG output. The convert path ignores the quality setting and writes a large, high-quality JPEG, which is not what you want for a gallery.

Fourth, Smol sets quality and pixel size, not output bytes, so no row promises a file under a cap. Pixieset’s Website advice is files of 5 MB or less and close to 2500 px on the long edge, and Squarespace recommends 500 KB or less; the 2500 px rows aim at the pixel size, and we have not measured the resulting file sizes on camera files. Check the size of the output before you upload. Smol also has a target-file-size mode, 4 to 4096 KB, which is a band rather than a ceiling and is slow. Phone photos carry GPS, and the Off in the stripping column keeps it: for phone files going to a public gallery or site, run the separate strip-metadata operation. If you are choosing a format for the open web, read Smol as an AVIF converter too.

Smol is a second pass on files you have already exported, not a replacement for the export. The order matters because your editor’s export settings decide the metadata before Smol ever sees the file.

1. 1

   Export from your editor as you do now

   Full-size JPEG into a delivery folder, with the metadata option you want. Keep the catalog and the masters out of this folder.

2. 2

   Drop the folder into Smol

   Whole folders and mixed types are fine, so the contract PDF and the highlight reel can ride along in the same drop.

3. 3

   Set format, quality and the maximum dimension

   Use the row from the settings table. This is the moment to raise the 2,000 px ceiling and switch metadata stripping off for files that carry your credit.

4. 4

   Run one file and inspect it

   Open it at 100% zoom next to the original, then run the exiftool line above. Fix the settings now, not after a few hundred files.

5. 5

   Run the folder and read the per-file results

   By default each output is a copy with a _compressed suffix next to the original, and Smol does not overwrite your source. Output location and naming are configurable in settings.

6. 6

   Upload the compressed copies, archive the rest

   Send the _compressed set to the gallery or site. With the default output settings, your masters and originals stay where they were.

Speed is middling and we will say so. Smol took about 7 seconds for 24 small images, where a one-line sips loop takes under one. We have not timed a full wedding folder, so we will not quote you a number for one.

Visible loss is something you test for, because Smol has no lossless mode. Every image setting re-encodes. That is the honest limit, and the test is quick: pick the five hardest frames in the set (high-ISO church interior, a saturated red against green, fine lace, skin under flash, a night shot), run them at 90 and at 80, and compare each against the original at 100% zoom.

Why bother? Pixieset’s Original download is the file exactly as uploaded, so a client who downloads the Original gets exactly what you uploaded. Smaller copies help the upload on a wedding-venue connection, plans where storage is metered, and a client downloading on a phone. They cost pixels, so keep the native files as the deliverable and treat anything smaller as an option you label.

We have no measurement on camera-resolution wedding JPEGs, and a 24 MP file will not behave like a test scan. What Smol measured is a defaults run, not the setting this page recommends for the files a client keeps: at quality 75, 24 small high-quality JPEGs came out 69.3% smaller (benchmark). The benchmark photographs are small (768 × 512) film scans, so read them as encoder comparisons, not as wedding-folder forecasts. The resize ceiling did nothing to those 768 px images, but it would to a 6,000 px camera file, which is why the default is dangerous for client work.

Keep JPEG for anything a client will email, print or open in older software. AVIF and WebP are for display on your site, where you control the browser support. And if lossless matters, ImageOptim saved 8.9% on the same 24 small JPEGs with no pixel changes, which is a real answer for archives; our ImageOptim head-to-head has the full comparison.

Yes, and for a lot of delivery they are the right tool. Both let you choose JPEG quality, resize on the long edge and decide which metadata travels, so check your own export dialog for the exact options. Our photographer guide goes through them, and an export preset is more reproducible than anything you drag and drop.

Where a second pass earns its place:

• Formats. Smol writes AVIF, WebP, HEIC and JPEG. Look at your editor’s export Format list for your version; if it has what you need, skip this.
• Folders that never touched your catalog. A second shooter’s JPEGs, a bridal party’s phone uploads, files you exported last month and now need smaller.
• Mixed deliverables. A contract PDF and a highlight reel in the same folder as the stills, handled in one drop.
• A Finder right-click. The Quick Action handles the one file a client needs resized in the next ten minutes.

What Smol does not add is a plugin inside Lightroom, Photoshop or Capture One. If you want compression on export without a round trip, that is a real argument for JPEGmini’s plugin tiers, covered below.

If every file you deliver is a JPEG and you live inside Lightroom, buy JPEGmini or write an export preset. The full JPEGmini comparison sets out where each tool wins.

An online compressor receives your file, since that is what upload means. For a wedding, a newborn session or an interior shoot, check your client contract or release for anything about who may handle the images before you choose a tool. We are not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

Smol processes files on your Mac, needs no account and uploads nothing. Its separate strip-metadata operation removes EXIF, GPS, IPTC and XMP without re-encoding the image, which is the useful move for photos of a client’s home. It is not redaction. The filename and anything visible in the frame stay, as the pre-flight checklist for photos details. The comparison with a hosted tool is in Smol versus TinyPNG.

Save a preset per deliverable (“Lighter copy 3600”, “Portfolio 2500”, “Instagram 1080”) on each Mac, and write the settings down (format, quality, maximum dimension, stripping) so a second shooter and the studio manager can recreate the same preset and get the same output. A Team license is $49 once for three Macs. Larger studios buy Enterprise at $20 a seat, once, from 5 to 500 seats, managed from one dashboard. Solo is $29 for one Mac. There are no subscriptions and no per-file quota.

For automation, the Finder Quick Action covers one-off files from Finder, and a watched folder suits a camera-export folder of fresh, unoptimized files. Our own caveat applies: watched folders can make already-optimized files larger, so do not point one at a folder of finished deliverables.

Related jobs elsewhere in a studio: the real estate listing photos page covers MLS limits, the video production page covers compressing video for client delivery, and the web agencies page is for whoever builds your portfolio site.

Several cases. The first is print.

Files going to a print lab. WHCC recommends JPEG at quality 10 or higher in Photoshop, or 90% in Lightroom (page dated 12 Nov 2025, read 9 Oct 2026), and says it resizes files for printing itself. Bay Photo’s file specifications say its printers render each image at the optimum resolution for the print size, though that will not improve the quality of a low-resolution file. Zenfolio says quality 9 or 10 for prints of 11 × 17 in. and up. Print is where you are paying for the pixels. Send the native-size export from your editor.

Archival masters. Smol re-encodes every image. A master you will print or re-edit in five years belongs in its original form. If you need pixel-identical optimization, ImageOptim is the tool.

Stock agency submissions. Each agency publishes its own technical requirements, so read yours before you compress anything. Smol re-encodes every image, and its target-file-size mode tops out at 4096 KB. Export from your editor at the quality the agency asks for.

Platforms that store your original. If a host keeps the file you upload and makes its own display copies, as Pixieset does, pre-compressing mainly changes the Original download, upload time and any metered storage, at the cost of pixels. Upload the full export unless one of those matters more.

Raw development. Smol reads CR2, NEF, ARW and DNG and does not develop them. There is no white balance, no highlight recovery and no lens correction. If the job is upscaling a small crop for a large print, read the Gigapixel comparison before you assume Smol’s 2×, 3× or 4× upscaler is the right fit.

Folders of phone files that need no help. If you only need HEIC to JPG, the HEIC to JPG guide covers the free built-in route, and the batch version covers a whole folder.